Size Matters: The Samsung SyncMaster 245B

Alas poor IIyama, I knew ye well. Ever since you started to go weird on my I have cast my eyes at screens other than yours. And I have found a worthy successor: the Samsung SyncMaster 245B.

I used to be a real advocate of cathode ray tube displays, since I used to be a complete gaming freak. Back in the days where flat panels still meant you had a trail behind your cursor it was strongly discouraged to even try playing games on them, unless your were into the whole epileptic seizure thing.

But I have come to adjust my views. I have been working on TFT screens for at least 3 years now and to be honest I could not really care less for the old CRT screens. The only problem still is that for higher resolution you need a bigger screen. In fact, to match the 1600×1200 resolution of my old 19″ iiyama I needed to either buy a really expensive 22″ 4:3 TFT screen, or a less expensive 24″ wide-TFT screen. That being said, the bigger TFT screens are comparisson wise not very expensive, so that is not a really big hurdle. And what is wrong with big anyway?

In the land of TFT screen, there are actually just a few brands I would trust to give me high quality, king of the hill being Samsung (or so I believe). Key in the selection of brand is:

• Constant innovation on their products (they are trend-setting);
• High grade of quality delivers;
• Competitive pricing on their products.

That being said, combined to my threshold of 1600×1200 or better (I was not going to downgrade on that 😉 ) brought me swiftly to the more professional display line of Samsung: the SyncMaster 245B.

The specs on the display are simply good. The 1920×1200 resolution met my requirements, with brightness at 400 cd/m², dynamic contrast ratio at 3000:1 and a refresh rate of 5 ms you know that this screen is good on paper. Coming with a slick design, including a fully adjustable foot this thing is nice to look at even if the screen is turned off.
Of course the display featured DVI as well as the archaic 15D-Sub connector. It does lack the HDMI interface but this was not a selection criteria for me.

Of course a monitor is a thing you need to see before buying, simply because the score sheet does not tell you anything about the quality of the image itself. Frankly I can say that the image of this screen is superb. It can be a bit bright, making ‘black’ look a bit gray, but with a bit of tweaking of the settings this is easily corrected.

The best part: the price. This puppy was mine for € 365,00, VAT included, excluding shipping. (although you can actually get them slightly cheaper)
€365,00 is a lot of cash, but for this much goodness it is definitely not expensive.

All-in-all I can confidently say I am thoroughly happy with my purchase. I consider it a worthy replacement for my old CRT-monitor; one I hope to be enjoying for the years to come.